Lapal is a residential area of

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...

, in the

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

district, in the county of the West Midlands of England (part of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

until 1974). It is situated in the east of the town on the border with

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. The Lapal area sits to the East of the Lapal Canal, to the North of Lapal Lane South up to what is now the M5 motorway, to the South West of Carters Lane and Kent Road, and to the South East of Mucklow Hill. Most of the houses were built between 1930 and 1980. In the late 1970s the large Abbeyfields estate was built alongside the currently disused portion of the

Dudley Canal The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh network of connected navigable inland waterways and forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising ro ...

, adding to its already extensive

owner-occupier Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, co ...

housing stock. It is the most affluent suburb of Halesowen, commanding the largest average house prices of all the suburbs in the town. The area is served by Lapal Primary School and Leasowes High School, the Royal Oak public house and a small cluster of shops opposite, including a newsagent/post office, bakery, fish and chip shop, Chinese take-away, pharmacy and general grocery store. Also to be found in the area the ruins of the 13th century Halesowen Abbey, located in a field off the Manor Way by-pass. The area has local bus connections with Halesowen town centre,

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and Ward (electoral subdivision), electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (originally in Staffordshire), England. It is located south of Dudley and north of Stourbr ...

Cradley Heath Cradley Heath is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, west of Birmingham. The town was known for the manufacture of chains in the first half of the twentiet ...

, Merry Hill, Birmingham and Oldbury. It is situated near to Junction 3 of the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

. The disused Lapal Canal Tunnel is nearby.

History

Lapal was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of Halesowen, in 1866 Lapal became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. In 1951 the parish had a population of 2730.

References

Areas of Dudley Former civil parishes in the West Midlands (county) Halesowen {{WestMidlands-geo-stub